February events explore the Black experience
This February, the University of Kansas Libraries invite you to focus on the Black experience through several upcoming events.
On Tuesday, February 11, KU Libraries will host a reading titled “A Tribute to Toni Morrison: An Intimate Discussion in Celebration of The Bluest Eye (1970),” by Anthony Boynton, doctoral candidate in the Department of English. Giselle Anatol, professor of English, and Derek Hall, race & equity coach, will join Boynton and contribute to the readings and discussion. The event will take place in Watson Library, third floor West, from 6-8 p.m.
“Ho Chi Minh: The Black Panther Party and the Struggle for Self-Determination,” a temporary exhibition, will be on display in Kenneth Spencer Research Library through February 29, with a smaller, temporary exhibition on display in Anschutz Library from February 16-29. The exhibit is curated by Sophia Southard, history major and student assistant in the African American Experience Collection at Kenneth Spencer Research Library.
“This exhibit highlights the links connecting members of the Black Panther Party to Ho Chi Minh and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, as well as African American anti-war sentiment,” said Southard.
“An Evening with Darren Canady” will take place on Thursday, February 20. Canady, associate professor of English, will deliver readings from a selection of his work, followed by a question and answer session about his writing processes, influences and more. The event will be held in Watson Library, third floor west, from 4:30-6 p.m. Light refreshments will be served.
“I come from a family that revels in storytelling,” Canady notes in his biography. “Whether the story was joyful, elegiac, painful or cautionary, I grew up hearing, seeing, and listening to family stories that were only told if they could be performed with as much blood, life, exuberance, and expressiveness as possible. Many of these stories grew out of personal journeys experienced against the backdrop of Jim Crow, the Great Migration, and the Civil Rights Movement.”
These events are free and open to the public.